


The Mixer

by hermitpanda



Series: Coffee & Pie [3]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: M/M, Matchmaking, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 16:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8540011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermitpanda/pseuds/hermitpanda
Summary: "Maybe you just need to switch teams for a while to break out of a rut. You keep comparing every woman you go out with to Haley."





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at Criminal Minds or Hotch/Reid fic so constructive criticism is welcomed. I threw the canon timeline out the window. It's my own little world that might turn into a short story series. I also borrowed some concepts from The Millionaire Matchmaker (man, I miss that show). And yes, I totally named the matchmaker after an MCU/Thor character. Mostly because I've been on a Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers kick lately. If you want to imagine she's the same woman, go for it. Enjoy. :D  
> ~* HermitPanda *~
> 
> 11/20/16 - Edited for line spacing to hopefully make it easier to read. Nothing else changed :)
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or show. Just borrowing them for a while.

Hotch stared at Jessica. “You did what now?” Very few people were able to truly surprise him anymore after having spent so many years in the BAU, but his former sister-in-law had just dropped a bombshell so big that he was pretty sure his brain had imploded.

 

“You cannot be mad at me. I’m holding your sleeping son.” She swayed gently keeping Jack asleep on her shoulder. He watched her eyes narrow menacingly as she stroked the boy’s blond hair.

 

He shook his head. “I’m not mad. Just … Explain?” He scrubbed a hand over his face and sank wearily into a chair. Of course, she had hit him up about this the exact moment he had returned from a week-long, serial rapist case. That was Jessica’s way. Someday he would remember to expect her waylaying him with some demand after week-long cases.

 

She moved around the coffee table to reach the rocking chair opposite him. “You’re dating again. Which is great. It is. But you’re having a very shit time at it. So … I bought you a matchmaking session with the Lewis Matchmaking Service. They’re supposed to be the best around. Several people at the office have used them and had some really great results.”

 

“O-kay.” He drug the word out and slowly nodded to encourage her to go on.

 

“I went in and talked to Darcy, the Lewis of Lewis Matchmaking Service by the way. And I thought that since you had dated a couple guys in college that time when you and Haley were broken up, that maybe you should try meeting some men. Maybe you just need to switch teams for a while to break out of a rut. You keep comparing every woman you go out with to Haley.”

 

“I do not!” He protested quickly. She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “Alright. Maybe I do, but not consciously and on purpose. At least not all the time.”

 

“I know, Aaron. I understand. Really, I do. And I’m not trying to make you do something that you’re not comfortable with. Just try it one time for me? She does these mixer things. Gets a bunch of people together that should be pretty compatible. Everyone has a drink, chats. Really informal. If you like a guy, get a number. You don’t like any of the guys and don’t want to meet any more, ask her to switch you to meeting women. I told her about your history so she’s willing to try introducing you to both so you can figure out what you want.” Jessica gave him a hopeful look before she started worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. “I mean, I know you haven’t said anything about being attracted to a man in recent memory, but you also never said you weren’t attracted either. You did date three different guys.” She shifted his sleeping five-year-old from one shoulder to the other.

 

He held up four fingers and leaned his head back against the chair. “Just after the divorce,” he explained before she asked for an explanation. “It didn’t last very long. He was clingy and whiny. I don’t do clingy and whiny.” He grimaced at the memory.

 

“So you’re still willing to date men. Go to one mixer. Please? Just one. That’s all I’m asking.”

 

“Fine. I’ll try it. But if it’s horrible, I get to set you up when you’re over what’s-his-face.” He grinned wickedly.

 

She made a pinched expression and took several deep breaths before answering. “His name is Michael.”

 

“What’s-his-face works just as well.” Hotch shrugged with a fake nonchalance, carefully pushing away his lingering anger at her ex. It had only been two months since the end of her last relationship, and she was definitely not ready to date yet.

 

They stared at each other for a few tense minutes before she caved. “Fine. You can set me up on one date per mixer you attend if everything goes south.”

 

Hotch nodded and toed off his shoes before putting his sock-clad feet on the coffee table. “Just tell me when and where. And help me figure out what to wear. Apparently, I’m intimidating in my suits according to that last woman I saw.”

 

Jessica’s laugh wrapped around him. “You are. But I know you’re really a softy blob of mushy romantic deep inside. I’m sure I can find something to dress you in.”

 

And she did.

 

The following Friday, Hotch found himself dressed in a new pair of dark rinse jeans and his favorite sweater while standing in a lounge at the Lewis Matchmaking Service offices sipping a beer and chatting with a man that was a pulmonologist. Hotch kept himself angled so that he could watch the rest of the gathered men, especially the young genius across the room. He had heard the team talking about Reid’s foray into using a matchmaker, but he had not realized that they were using the same service or that they would be at the same mixer.

 

Hotch knew the moment that Reid spotted him. He had frozen and stared openly at Hotch for a few minutes before Darcy gently put her hand on his arm bringing his attention back to her and the party. Hotch finally excused himself from the pulmonologist and fell into conversation with a radio DJ while Darcy and Reid had a brief conversation that included lots of glances his way. Eventually, the matchmaker led the young man to a group that Hotch knew to be scientists.

 

Hotch stopped his stroll across the parking lot and turned towards Reid when he heard his name. He waited for his coworker to catch up to him. “Hello Reid, you have any luck in there?”

 

He shrugged. “A couple numbers. Can I get a ride? Penelope dropped me off. My car’s still in the shop.”

 

“Sure.” Hotch turned away and led Reid to his car. The pair remained quiet until they had pulled out of the lot. “You want to go get some coffee? I’m not ready to face Jessica’s interrogation yet.” He saw Reid’s nod in his peripheral vision. The younger man ran his fingers over the strap of his messenger bag.

 

“What’d you think of the pulmonologist? He was weird. Did you think he was weird? He was weird, right?” Reid rambled trying to keep his mind off the questions he so desperately wanted to ask.

 

Hotch snorted. “That’s one way to describe him. He tried to make himself taller than me. He kept raising up on his toes.”

 

“Did that to me too, and when I told him about my doctorates, he scoffed at me. Like I’m a lesser doctor than he is because mine are PhDs instead of an MD.” Reid frowned.

 

“You’re not a lesser doctor than anyone, Reid.”

 

“I know. And he didn’t make me feel insecure or anything. I just noticed that’s the way he acted.” He slid out of the car and waited for Hotch to lock it before going into the nearly empty diner.

 

Hotch folded his hands on the tabletop after they had ordered coffee and slices of pie. “Go ahead and ask. I can see the questions rolling around in your brain.”

 

“Are you gay? Or bisexual? Is it just a phase? You’ve never given any indication at work you might be interested in men.” Reid leaned towards him slightly with big eyes.

 

“Bisexual, I guess, if it has to be labeled. I’m generally attracted to women but sometimes there’s a man who catches my eye.” Hotch paused and smiled up at their waitress when she brought their orders. “I dated a few guys in college when Haley and I were broken up and another one just after the divorce. And when do I ever talk about things like relationships or dating at work? It took me months to tell you guys Haley and I had separated.”

 

Reid nodded thoughtfully. “True. It just caught me off guard, I guess. Garcia made me sign up with the matchmaker. How about you?”

 

“Jessica. She signed me up and suggested I try meeting men since I’ve not been having great luck with women lately. She thinks I need to, and I quote, switch teams for a while.” Hotch sipped at his coffee.

 

“Cool. Anyone catch your eye? Get any numbers?” Reid grinned.

 

“Someone caught my eye but no, no numbers.”

 

Hotch’s tone told Reid to switch tracks because he was not going to find out who Hotch had been interested in. They ate their pie in silence for a moment. “What do you tell them you do? No one ever believes me when I say I’m in law enforcement.”

 

Hotch shrugged. “DOJ. It’s because you don’t look like what people imagine when someone says law enforcement. You should say academia or that you work with law enforcement as a consultant.”

 

“Technically neither is a lie. I am currently working on an academic paper into the behavior patterns of victims after a violent crime. And we are basically consultants.”

 

“There, see? Do you come to many of the mixers?”

 

Spencer shook his head. “That was only my second one. I’m not sure if I want to get into a third. Is this a secret?”

 

Hotch shook his head. “I’m not exactly being very clandestine about it, but you know that I prefer not to discuss my personal life while at work. I don’t like being the topic of Jones’ daily water cooler recap. But if people find out, they find out.”

 

“Okay.” Reid took another bite of pie before the conversation turned away from the mixer and onto some of the recent cases that had crossed their desks.

 

Hotch snatched the bill off the table before the younger man could grab it for himself. “You can pay the next time we grab coffee and pie.” He informed him tucking his wallet away as they made their way out of the diner.

 

“We’re going to do this again?” Reid grinned like a kid at Christmas. Hotch mentally scolded himself for not making sure that he spent more time with the young genius, especially since their relationship had shifted slightly a couple months before. It was more friendly than it had been prior to Reid helping Jessica, but still had room for improvements to become true friends.

 

He nodded. “Yeah. If we do another mixer at the same time, we can compare notes afterward. Do you think we should have Garcia do a run on the pulmonologist? I can’t shake that feeling that he gave me.”

 

Reid considered while they buckled up. “No, he was just peacocking. I think he’s fairly harmless.”

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Hotch nodded and started the car.


End file.
